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No former CH GM has obtained another NHL GM position after Montreal

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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No former CH GM has obtained another NHL GM position after Montreal
The position of general manager in the National Hockey League is a very prestigious and important one.

It’s a position that comes with enormous responsibilities and a clear mission: to lead his club to one or more conquests of the famous Stanley Cup trophy.

Being general manager in the NHL is a very stressful position.

A GM has to deal with a ton of pressure, from the media and the fans, at every moment of the season.

Now imagine how much pressure is put on the person who holds this position in Montreal with the Canadiens.

It must be insane.

Talk about Marc Bergevin, who we’ve unfortunately seen wither away over the years during his reign in Montreal.

Every little detail, every little signing, every little transaction is analyzed, overanalyzed and criticized.

In short, it’s a very important position that comes with an immense amount of pressure.

In Montreal, this position has been filled by 17 different people before the current holder, Kent Hughes.

The completely absurd statistic about these 17 people is that none of them landed another GM position elsewhere in the NHL after leaving Montreal.

That’s right, every time one of these 17 general managers was fired or left, their NHL GM career came to an end.

This statistic was presented last night on JiC.

It’s a crazy statistic considering that, in general, the NHL is a small world with a small clique of people who are generally recycled throughout the league.

These are often the same people who are rehired by another team after having previously lost their position.

Talk to Kyle Dubas and Brad Treliving.

In short, it’s clear that the CH’s former GMs aren’t exactly unanimous in the NHL.

Why haven’t any of them been rehired elsewhere?

According to Jean-Charles Lajoie, it’s largely due to the fact that GMs in Montreal are under far more pressure than GMs anywhere else.

“The Montreal pot overexposes its field hockey men. The CH GM can’t work with the same peace of mind as the Nashville Predators GM. […] When there are reports of grumbling in Montreal about the Canadiens’ GM, it ends up not helping his cause.” – Jean-Charles Lajoie

It’s as if other teams are afraid to trust a GM who’s been “magicked” in Montreal.

The other point is the Francophone side of the story.

As you probably know, the Habs (normally) always hire a GM who speaks French.

This limits the CH’s options when the position becomes available. Some candidates aren’t even considered because they don’t speak French.

So, if we rely on the above-mentioned statistic, we can deduce two different things.

Either the other teams don’t want a francophone as GM, or the CH isn’t taking the best GM available by focusing solely on francophones.

So, when this GM becomes available to other NHL teams, he doesn’t stand out among all the other non-French-speaking candidates.

He was first on the list only on the CH’s list, which doesn’t count non-French-speaking options.

In short, it’s a shocking and surprising statistic at first sight, but we shouldn’t forget that it could also be pure chance.

In any case, for the time being, it’s a trend that exists, but one that could very well be broken soon if Marc Bergevin were to be hired as general manager elsewhere in the NHL.

In any case, we wish him well, and he currently has a good chance if the latest rumours are anything to go by.


In a gust

– Ideally, he shouldn’t earn more.

– We’re hoping for a Remparts triumph tomorrow.

– A file that remains to be followed.

– A great story.

– A must-read for those interested.

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